Haunted
by wingedauthoress14
Summary: Courtney really needs to stop reading scary stories before bed...


A/N: so this story, i wanna dedicate to all of my friends who helped give me the idea to write this story in the first place: ashley, lauren, maggie, gretchen, conor, and anyone else who participated in the telling of scary stories tonight at the bonfire.

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Courtney sat in her bedroom on Halloween Eve, with her bowl of half devoured candy corn in her lap, purusing the internet for new sources of scary reading entertainment- a newly made tradition of hers. So far, she had read about suicides that led to ghosts in barns, war stories where the soldiers still walked the battlefield, and insane, escaped criminals who had become mass murderers.

The scariest one so far had been a story about a family who kept hearing footsteps in their kitchen at night. When they asked the previous owner about it, they had been shocked, as well as frightened, to find out that once a little boy and his father had lived in that house. The father had gone crazy and sadistic when his wife had died, and decided to get vengence through his son. He chased his son all throughout the house until he had cornered him in a hallway where the little boy raced until he reached the end of the hallway, where his father killed him.

Courtney shuddered. Though she would never admit it to anyone, she kind of liked to be scare herself- pretending to have seen a shadow flit quickly across the room, or else, hear a weird noise in the dead of night when she was the only one lying awake. However, because it was Halloween, and due to the fact that she had read so many of the urban legends, AND thanks to her active imagination, she had become rather skittish, prone to jumping at any noise.

Suddenly, her window made a tap- tap- tap sound. She whirled her head so quickly that she might have gave herself whiplash. She could feel her heart beating, and a cold chill race down her spine.

_S-stop this right now! _Courtney silently berated herself as she reached back to massage her sore neck. _It was probably just some stupid trick- or- treaters who wanted candy. I TOLD Mom not to give out canned fruit this year, but did she listen? Noooooo... _

Satisfyed with this rational notion, Courtney decided that she had had enough scary stories for one night, and, even though it was only half past nine, decided to go to bed. She set the bowl of candy corn on her nightstand, pulled on a white tank top and grey sweatpants, and crawled into bed, pulling her thick, pale yellow comforter around her.

She looked around the room slowly once, then once more as she reached for the small lamp that rested on her nightstand table. She paused, seeing her phone which laid, right beside the lamp. She grabbed it, and set it down beside her.

Just in case, of course.

Quickly, she turned off the light, and the room was instantly bathed in darkness. She looked around the room again. Nothing new, but everything looked so different in the dark... so menacing. She shuddered beneath her blankets, and felt for her phone. She felt her fingertips brush against the cold device, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Before she knew it, she had fallen fast asleep.

Courtney was awakened a few short hours later, but not quite sure how. She laid there, listening intently when- there it was again! The pitter- patter of little feet in the hallway's bare wooden floor right outside her bedroom.

No one in her house was young enough to have footsteps that sounded like THAT.

Hurridly, she felt for her phone and found it immeadiately, the plastic covering still warm from her body's sleeping heat. Without thinking, she dialed Duncan's number- she knew she was crazy for this, but she would rather talk to him than be scared half to death by noises in the hallway.

She jumped about a mile as she heard something heavy and metal crash into the side of her house- the side which her window occupied. Unhelpfully, her parents remained asleep. She looked to her window, which was on the other side of her bed. The blinds on the window were angled downward slightly so that the yellowish light from the ever- so- appropriate harvest moon showed through in slanted lines on her dark blue carpet, but the uniform lines had been interrupted by another shadow- two thick vertical lines. Her eyes widened as she heard noise coming from outside her window. It sounded almost like... music?

_That sounds like Duncan's ringtone... _she thought, thinking that she actually HAD gone crazy.

She closed her phone, and by now, a figure had climbed up to her window, and knocked on it. A curious suspicion aroused itself, and Courtney felt brave enough to turn on the light on the nightstand and pull up the shades. There, sure enough, was her boyfriend, clinging to a ladder and smirking with pride. Relief poured into her like hot chocolate on a snowy day. It had only been Duncan. She was so abated by his presence that she wasted no time in undoing the lock on the window and helping him inside her room.

"Duncan! What are you doing here?" Courtney whispered furiously to him, though the effect was slightly ruined by her lingering smile.

"What? I can't come see my favorite girl on Halloween? I mean, you didn't wanna T.P. houses with me, so-"

"But if my parents find out you're here, you'll be in so much trouble!" Duncan's smile grew wider as he said:

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you WANT me here. I saw you smiling when you pulled up those blinds." Courtney's smile flickered for a moment as she recounted the events leading up to his arrival.

"Princess? What's wrong?" Duncan had noticed the rapid change in her persona. "Reading scary stories before bed again?" Courtney rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed.

"Yeah- so what?" The delinquent chuckled as he sat down with her.

"Sweetheart, if you wanted a scary story you should have just asked me- I could probably scare you more than anything else," before she could stop herself, Courtney said:

"Oh, I doubt that," Duncan's look became surly.

"Why is that?" He challenged.

"Well..." Courtney began, trying not to make it sound like her imagination had made a complete idiot out of her. "Okay- I WAS reading scary stories again. I got really creeped out because I heard this tapping at my window, so I went to sleep I woke up and thought I heard... things out in the hallway. Then you made me jump about a mile with that stupid ladder," he snorted.

"Sounds like your imagination made a complete idiot out of you." Courtney glared, her dark eyes boring into his.

"Shut up! I was really... scared." Duncan rolled his eyes, but was slightly concerned. Courtney, being the uptight CIT that she was, almost NEVER admitted to being scared. Whatever she heard- or dreamt- must have really frightened her.

"C'mere," he said softly, pulling her onto his lap. She obeyed, and laid her head down on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her small frame.

"I threw rocks at your window earlier this evening," he muttered into her russet, strawberry- smelling hair. "I'm sorry I scared you," he kissed her on the head. Courtney looked up at him, smiling.

"That's okay, Duncan- you didn't mean to," she paused "but if you were outside in the hall, why wouldn't you have just come in that way instead of with the ladder?" Duncan raised his eyebrow.

"Courtney- I was never in your house," at this, Courtney's eyes became wide, and her heart began beating so wildly that Duncan could feel it pulsing through her as he held her tightly. "But," he said quickly "I can go check it out for you if you want." Courtney bit her bottom lip, looking worried.

"Are you sure?" she whispered, slightly comforted when he smirked at her.

"Psh yeah- I'm the scariest thing in this house right now- except maybe your temper," he added teasingly, winking at her. The CIT rolled her eyes, but smiled and said:

"Okay, but I'm going with you." She slid off the bed, and rooted around in her drawers for a flashlight, and handed it to Duncan.

Together, they both opened the door and slid out into the hallway. Courtney gripped Duncan's hand so fiercley that she was sure he would lose the feeling in it soon. However, he didn't complain.

The flashlight roamed all around the foreboding hallway.

"See? Nothing here," Duncan whispered to Courtney. Who nodded, and clutched his arm.

"Okay," she whispered back so quietly that Duncan had to lower his head to hear it. "Let's go back now," he turned to look at her.

"You sure?" it was obvious that he WANTED to stay in the hallway- WANTED to see that... whatever it had been... but even in the dark, he could see that Courtney's eyes were nothing short of pleading.

"Please," she breathed. He nodded, and they both went back to her (thankfully lit) room. Courtney breathed deeply as she sat down on the bed once more. Duncan closed the door slowly and silently. As soon as the door was shut, they both grew still and rigid as the pat- pat- pat of small, bare feet on wooden floor was heard. The two looked at each other.

"Did you just hear that?" each asked the other simultaniously. Courtney got up, and pulled Duncan close.

"You're staying here tonight- I'm NOT sleeping alone!" she said, the fear making her voice quiver slightly. Duncan, despite his chills gave a smile.

_Finally!! Thank you!! _he cheered to himself, thanking whatever it was that had made Courtney so scared. Behind him, the door opened a crack, and a cold wind blew through.

_You're welcome._

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_A/N: _so how was it? i hope it was good- i had a lot of fun writing this one. i got the idea from my friend Gretchen when we were telling scary stories over the weekend, so yea.

i also take this time to denounce any notion that these characters, this show, or the story that gave me the idea for this fic. that is all.


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